EDGE San Diego

A federal appeals court will announce if it will unseal video recordings of the landmark trial on the constitutionality of California’s same-sex marriage ban, but it’s not ready to rule on whether a lower court judge properly struck down the voter-approved ban.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Wednesday it had decided whether the recordings in Proposition 8 case should be released or kept sealed. Its decision was expected Thursday morning.

The 2010 trial lasted 13 days and was the first in a federal court to examine if prohibiting gay couples from marrying violates their constitutional rights. It received widespread media coverage, so the recordings would not reveal any new evidence or testimony.

The 9th Circuit has said it wanted to resolve the public release of the trial videos before it addresses the more substantive issue of whether U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker correctly struck down Proposition 8 on federal constitutional grounds. The appeals court panel heard arguments about that a year ago, but does not face a deadline for making a decision.

Walker had staff members record the proceedings with the caveat that the footage would be used only by him to help him reach a verdict. Walker, who has since retired and revealed he is in a long-term relationship with another man, originally wanted to broadcast the trial in other federal courthouses and on YouTube.

The U.S. Supreme Court forbade him from moving forward with that plan after the ban’s sponsors argued that distributing trial footage could subject their witnesses to harassment. At the time, the 9th Circuit did not allow the federal courts within its jurisdiction to televise trials. The appeals court since has adopted rules that would permit trials to be broadcast under limited conditions.

A coalition of media organizations, including The Associated Press, and lawyers for the two couples who successfully sued to overturn Proposition 8 in Walker’s court have petitioned to have the Proposition 8 trial recordings made public on First Amendment grounds, maintaining the ban’s backers have not proven their witnesses would be harmed if people got to see what they said under oath.

Walker’s successor as the chief U.S. district judge in Northern California, James Ware, agreed in September and planned to unseal the videos. But the 9th Circuit put the brakes on while Proposition 8’s sponsors appealed Ware’s decision.

Gay rights advocates have indicated they want to use the recordings to try to puncture political arguments used by opponents of same-sex marriage.